And the Oscar nominees are ...

"Amour"

"Amour," Michael Haneke's intimate portrayal of an aged couple grappling with illness and the specter of loss, is nominated for Best Picture. The film's star Emmanuelle Riva is nominated in the Best Actress category. Hanaeke is also nominated for Best Director.

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"Argo"

"Argo," Ben Affleck's thriller about a CIA scheme to save Americans from Iran amid the 1979 hostage crisis, is nominated for Best Picture. Actor Alan Arkin is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Credit: Claire Folger

"Beasts of the Southern Wild"

"Beasts of the Southern Wild," a Sundance favorite that uses magical realism to evoke a child's world in the Louisiana bayou, is nominated for Best Picture. The film's director Ben Zeitlin and its star Quvenzhan

Credit: Fox Searchlight

"Django Unchained"

"Django Unchained," Quentin Tarantino's bloody revenge saga about a former slave hunting white oppressors just before the Civil War, is nominated for Best Picture. One of the film's stars, Christoph Waltz, is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Credit: Weinstein Company

"Les Miserables"

"Les Miserables," Tom Hooper's musical epic set against an uprising of freedom fighters in 19th century France, is nominated for Best Picture. The film's stars Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were nominated in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories, respectively.

Credit: Universal

"Life of Pi"

"Life of Pi," Ang Lee's story of a free-thinking Indian youth cast adrift on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger while traveling to a new life in North America, is nominated for Best Picture. Lee also is nominated for Best Director. Altogether, it received 11 nominations.

Credit: undefined

"Lincoln"

"Lincoln," Steven Spielberg's drama of the 16th president's fight to eradicate slavery, leads the race for this year's Academy Awards, with 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Spielberg is also nominated for Best Director.

Credit: David James/Disney/DreamWorks II

"Silver Linings Playbook"

Silver Linings Playbook," a comedy-drama about a man released from a mental institution, probably prematurely, is nominated for Best Picture. The film's director, David O. Russell, also is nominated along with four of the film's stars.

Credit: Weinstein Company

"Zero Dark Thirty"

"Zero Dark Thirty," Kathryn Bigelow's chronicle of the hunt for U.S. public enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden, is nominated for Best Picture. The film's star Jessica Chastain is nominated for Best Actress.

Credit: Sony Pictures

Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role for playing President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln."

Day-Lewis is a two-time winner of the Best Actor Oscar, for "My Left Foot" and "There Will Be Blood." He also received Best Actor nominations for "In the Name of the Father" and "Gangs of New York."

Credit: Dreamworks

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role for playing a bipolar former teacher who's released from a mental hospital and returns to his parents' home in "Silver Linings Playbook."

This is Cooper's first Oscar nomination.

Credit: The Weinstein Company

Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role for playing Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables."

This is Jackman's first Oscar nomination.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role for playing a WW II veteran who become the fiercest defender of a cult in Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master."

Phoenix has been nominated twice before, for Best Supporting Actor ("Gladiator") and Best Actor ("Walk the Line").

Credit: Weinstein Company

Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is nominated for best performance by an actor in a leading role for playing a pilot battling both an NTSB probe into a fatal plane crash and his own alcoholism in "Flight."

Washington is a two-time Oscar-winner, for "Glory" and "Training Day." He also received three additional nominations, for "Cry Freedom," "Malcolm X" and "The Hurricane."

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain is nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role for playing CIA analyst Maya, who is tracking the whereabouts of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in "Zero Dark Thirty."

Chastain was nominated last year for Best Supporting Actress for "The Help."

Credit: Columbia Pictures

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence is nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role for playing a young widow who acts as a go-between for her bipolar friend and his estranged wife in "Silver Linings Playbook."

Lawrence was previously nominated for Best Actress for "Winter's Bone."

Credit: The Weinstein Company

Emmanuelle Riva

Emmanuelle Riva is nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role for playing an octogenarian stroke victim who is the center of her husband's universe in Michael Haneke's drama "Amour."

This is Riva's first Oscar nomination. At 85, she becomes the oldest performer to receive a Best Actress nomination.

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Quvenzhane Wallis

Quvenzhane Wallis is nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role for starring in "Beasts of the Southern Wild," a tale of magical realism about a young girl in the Louisiana bayou.